Oozora
by Spylace
Summary: Sawada Tsunayoshi is ninja of the leaf. Though he doesn't know it yet, he is also the container for the seven-tailed beast.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Oozora  
**Summary:** Sawada Tsunayoshi is ninja of the leaf. Though he doesn't know it yet, he is also the container for the seven-tailed beast.  
**Rating:** T  
**Notes: **A new story. It's been a while since I wrote KHR hah. I didn't put this in the crossover section because while the concepts, culture and geography of Naruto feature prominently in this story, none of the characters do. So I thought it best if it kept to the KHR section. Enjoy.  
**Disclaimer:** I own neither Katekyo Hitman Reborn nor Naruto franchise.

* * *

Sawada Tsunayoshi was not anyone's idea of a good ninja. He was clumsy, shy, underachieving, gifted with an immense chakara reserve but with no idea how to use it. People avoided him like the plague, his mother was often dreaming and his father was...

Tsuna expected to hear one of these days that the fierce ANBU captain had died in the line of duty. Even his teammates tended to treat him like a chore. Gokudera Hayato swung between ignoring him and telling him he wasn't good enough while Kurokawa Hana focused on stalking their dark-haired sensei.

But Reborn himself was absent more often than not, leaving them to their own devices in training and signing them up for D-rank missions on the side as a hobby, sulking over a broken leg that had landed him a team of genins in the first place. And now, one month into their careers as grass-trimmers and pot-scrubbers, they were told to prepare for the annual chuunin exams. Gokudera had scowled at the news while Hana looked thoughtful, sneaking glimpses at their fuming sensei for cues on how she should react.

Ripping the message to pieces, Reborn had stomped over to the Hokage's office to complain and had returned tight-lipped with his nostrils flared, fingers twitching sporadically as though looking for a convenient target to lay waste.

Team Seven snuck away while he was distracted by a fellow jounin named Skull appeared in a storm of leaves.

"What was that about?" He asked, a safe distance away.

Hana rolled her eyes so hard that he feared that the kunoichi might sprain something.

Gokudera ignored him and jammed a cigarette into the corner of his mouth. Rifling through his pockets, he produced a match and struck it against a fence post. "What else? Sensei's pissed he's stuck with a dead-last on his team."

Tsuna wilted.

"Oh"

His two teammates stared at him in a mixture of pity, disdain and something else he'd never been able to quite identify. After a moment, Gokudera turned away, grinding the burning match under his heel. "We've got laundry duty this afternoon. Be back here by two." And he disappeared.

.

"Mom?" Tsuna swallowed nervously.

Sawada Nana sat at the table, the cup of tea in front of her gone tepid during his absence, the plate of sweet rice cakes untouched beside it. Her fingers twitched once, tapping against the rounded edge of the plate as though she heard him though she did not look his way.

She had always been like that in his memories, a sleeper never quite awake. When he was young, they would receive visitors in their little house near the edge of the village, bustling matrons with armloads of groceries and concerned friends whose faces only darkened at his attention.

But over the years, no more footsteps haunted their door and only his father came every few weeks to check on his dreaming wife, never wondering how his son was or how he fared at the Academy. If Tsuna ever felt hurt by this exchange, he kept it quiet. He learned better a long time ago.

"I'm going out mom okay? I'll be back soon so if you need anything..." He swallowed. "I'll be at Mrs. Nomura's okay?"

Unlike the other genin, Tsuna found that he didn't quite mind the D-ranked missions his team was sent on. They were easy for one, allowed him to stay within the bounds of the village which meant that he could go home that much faster, stay in bed that much longer. It also allowed him to see his neighbor Kyoko-chan more often while washing windows or sprucing up trees for the environmental committee.

Sasagawa Kyoko was the younger sister of Sasagawa Ryohei, a genin who was earning a name for himself in their village through his impressive taijutsu skills. Though it was odd that only one sibling chose the way of the shinobi, the Sasagawas were a civilian family. Their parents made comfortable living through a flower shop at the village center. But it didn't stop Tsuna from hours of daydreaming about a world where Kyoko had attended the ninja academy and became his year mate. They could have even been on the same team.

_And then what? _Asked a caustic voice, sounding suspiciously like his sensei. _Stammer and stutter until even she's convinced that you're a complete waste of air? Face it_—the inner-Reborn said crushingly._ A girl like her is never going to look twice at a dame like you. _

Dejected, he dumped the bucket of sudsy water, watching it swirl down the drain. If only he'd been born handsome like Gokudera or strong like Ryohei. He was just no-good Tsuna, unneeded and unwanted in all things. But he basked in Kyoko's smile all the same and held up a hand when she waved from the sidewalk, a bouquet of flowers in her arms. Maybe someday, he'd have the courage to go up and talk to her.

.

"Again" Came the flat tone of their sensei as he plowed into the dirt. The dark-haired man sat propped against the tree stump, his face shadowed and looking for all the world like he was a sleep. He tapped his foot impatiently, legs splayed though there were no apparatus attached to his ankles to indicate any signs of prior injury. Tsuna immediately pulled his head from the dirt, certain that he had a bug stuck in between his teeth, and stared up at the man in disbelief.

Gokudera had creamed him today, and yesterday, and the day before. He would continue to do so for the next foreseeable future. Even Hana, who was strictly a medic-nin, her interest in ninjutsu purely academic and stemming from the fact she had a massive crush on Reborn, could stomp him flat in a second. Gokudera had hardly broken a sweat.

Reborn's black eyes darkened further.

"I said, again."

Tsuna rolled away with a quick _eep_ as a foot landed where his head had been moments before. He jumped to his feet, bruised and dirty and proceeded to stumble over a hole created by one of Gokudera's many exploding notes when the silver-haired genin had been fighting Hana. But it seemed that he had no need for weapons when a solid punch could easily have Tsuna eating mud.

He braced himself for the next barrage of attacks.

They were fairly predictable. Both of his teammates had foregone 'going easy' and were now using textbook exercises from the Academy. In theory, Tsuna could have easily defended himself against them. But his chakara control was poor and any seal he made was liable to blow up in his face. After the third time his jutsu caused the grass to grow and leaves to wilt in the training grounds, Reborn stopped them and demanded,

"Dame-Tsuna! Did you learn anything at the academy?"

Tsuna shrugged helplessly.

"I learned a couple of hand seals and... but they were worried and..."

Reborn sighed.

"If you're planning to qualify for the chuunin exams, you're going to have to measure up."

He hesitated, smudging the line of soot by his toes.

"I'm not sure..."

"You're not sure what?" Reborn interrupted, suddenly towering in front of him and blotting out the sun. Tsuna felt momentary fear grip his stomach and took a step backwards, words unbidden fragmenting as soon as they escaped past his treacherous tongue. Indifferent to his cause, Reborn poked him on the forehead. The burst of chakara against his skin made him yelp. "If you want to be chuunin? What to make of yourself? Why you're doing this? What?"

When Hana began to quietly snicker, he pinned her with a neat glare. He spread his arms. "You three are supposed to be a team. All I see are a bunch of spoiled brats intent on wasting my time."

Gokudera made a noise of protest.

"You had us..."

"I was hoping," Reborn said darkly as though he hadn't heard. "That you'd _learn_. I can see that I expected too much out of all of you. Dismissed."

Hanna said meekly—"But"

"I said you're dismissed." Reborn snapped and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Hana glared at him.

.

Tsuna tried. He honestly did. But he was so far behind all of them. The only reason he had passed the genin exams in the first place was because he had accidentally ingested a soldier pill while trying to get away from his opponent. Mochida Kensuke had railed against his defeat once he regained consciousness but all was fair in battle and Tsuna's strategic use of the soldier pill was lauded for its innovation.

Whenever they finished D-rank missions in the evening, he was surprised at how many people wanted midnight deliveries from their favorite noodle place, Tsuna met his teammates at the practice field, having the lessons of the past three years driven into him by people with more ambitions than he ever would. Hana's open palm smashed into his ribs and drove the air from his lungs.

"Dammit Tsuna, you're really bad at this."

"Haha... it's just that Kurokawa-san is so fast..."

"Hana, Kurokawa-san is my mother—a five-year-old could have blocked that."

Tsuna scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I don't know..."

"So think." Gokudera interjected from the sidelines, sprinkling a line of tobacco into a scrap of paper. "You get bullied a lot right?"

"Classy Smoking-Bomb..."

Gokudera ignored her. "How do you usually deal with them?"

"I... run..."

Tsuna was starting to think that he should hand in his resignation and make a career out of washing windows.

.

He got home late.

He didn't bother using the door, he didn't want to see his mother still sitting there at the table, and climbed to the second story, wincing every time paint and wood chipped off, clinging to the bottom of his feet. When he got to his room, the window unlocked for such occasions, he threw himself into bed, not bothering to wash up, staring mournfully at the arms of his alarm clock which spread to two and eleven respectfully.

Tsuna sighed and turned his head, seeing the moonlight bounce off the blackened windows of Kyoko's room. In his borrowed copy of Icha Icha Paradise vol. 7, the dashing protagonist threw pebbles at his beloved Michiko's window until she awoke, whispering sweet nothings of her fair skin and dark hair, coaxing her away to make love under the stars.

He blushed.

Tomorrow, he promised himself as he always did, smothering himself in his pillow. He'd talk to her tomorrow.

But as it turned out, he never got the chance. Kyoko approached him all on her own the next morning on her way to the flower shop, trimming scissors, pouches of seeds and spades all strapped to the belt around her waist.

"Tsuna-kun I heard!"

"Eh, Kyoko-chan?"

Kyoko grabbed his hands, face flushed with excitement. He too felt the color rise in his cheeks at the warmth of her touch. He literally melted in her grip.

"Big brother says that the chuunin exams will be held in Kumo this year. Isn't it exciting? You're awfully brave."

"But I'm not..."

"Big brother says that some of the toughest villages are joining this year. But you'll try your best right?"

He couldn't say no, couldn't and wouldn't disappoint her. His father didn't care, his mother couldn't and his team only hoped that Reborn would change his mind but Kyoko was the one person who didn't know how much of a failure he was. He couldn't shatter that fragile thread of hope, no matter how misplaced. So slowly, he squeezed back.

"Y... yeah, yeah, of course I will."

And as though noticing for the first time how close they were, Kyoko ducked her head, tucked her hair back behind her ear and gave him a small talisman as a good luck charm. He thanked her profusely and she smiled, a little nervous now since her mother's voice had been growing louder in the passing seconds.

"I better go." She whispered, "See you tomorrow!"

.

Invigorated by Kyoko's enthusiasm, by the end of the first week, he was able to hit his target most of the time and the kunai hit one of the inner rings, closest it'd ever been to the center. Gokudera shrugged and berated him a little but Tsuna could tell, the silver-haired genin was pleased. To celebrate, Hana took them out for ramen, the cheapest thing on the menu. Gokudera cursed her the entire way. Tsuna didn't care, it was delicious.

However, Reborn was less than enthusiastic about his progress.

"You've improved a lot." He acknowledged, striking through leaves of paper with red ink. "And I can see the two of them going but you don't measure up. Why should I bother with someone when you don't even want it?"

Tsuna swallowed. "I... I want to become a shinobi, so I can protect the village."

Reborn snorted, bored.

"Don't give me that textbook crap." He said gruffly, rubbing his aching knee. A bird came when summoned, a large magpie who held her beak open for a coin and took the document away.

Tsuna tugged at the hem of his jacket nervously, noting that it was starting to fray and he should get a new one. He tried to think of an answer that would please his sensei and found that no matter how hard he wracked his brain, there was no perfect answer. No matter how he framed it, the end result would be the same. Reborn would do his utmost to tear his sentences apart and feed it back to him piece by piece.

He held his breath, trembling.

He thought of Kyoko.

"Because it's hard." He stammered, looking up at his sensei earnestly. "And not everyone can do it." Reborn cocked his head, listening. "I want to go... I _need_ to go so others don't have to." Quietly he admitted, "So they don't go through what I did."

He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for a rebuke.

Reborn rolled one shoulder. "Pass."

Tsuna perked up.

"Wha... what?"

"I said you pass." Snorting, Reborn turned away. "We're moving in two days. Get packed, get ready and draw up your will."


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Oozora  
**Summary:** Sawada Tsunayoshi is ninja of the leaf. Though he doesn't know it yet, he is also the container for the seven-tailed beast.  
**Rating:** T  
**Notes:** After posting the last chapter, I realized I just forgot about the ages. Supposedly, the cast of _Naruto_ graduate their academy around 12 or so or younger during wartime. Meanwhile the cast of _KHR_ are 15 and up as unbelievable as it may seem at time. For this story, I'm going to go ahead and follow _Naruto_—Tsuna and his graduating class are 12. Sasagawa Ryohei is 13 or 14ish. Reborn is around late twenties, early thirties. As for the yet unaccounted for, you'll see :d  
**Disclaimer:** I wish  
**Warnings:** Nothing I can think of yet

* * *

There was clearly something to be said about organizing twelve children, however promising, however vicious and bloodthirsty, for their trip to Kumo. It took time to prepare them for one thing and from what he could glean from the medic-nin performing the perfunctory examination on the state of their hygiene, they were the largest group yet to be sent over the border.

Tsuna shivered at how clinically they were treated, names asked before being jotted down on a clipboard. Each stroke of pen sounded like splintering wood driven through stone.

_Sa-wa-da Tsu-na-yo-shi_—whatever the medic-nin wrote, it hadn't been his name. Tsuna might have been an academic failure, barely scraped through his days in school but even he knew how to spell his own name. Maybe she had shortened it, to conserve space on the spreadsheet she carried from genin to genin like Sa-wa-da Tsu-na? But that didn't make sense and it seemed more and more unlikely as she passed off the attendance sheet to a fellow coworker, ducking her head and glaring pointedly in his direction.

When their eyes met, she swiftly looked away and he shrunk further into his seat, wishing that the ground would open up beneath him and swallow him whole. Seated next to him, Hana elbowed him hard in the side, appalled at his posture. He pouted when he discovered that Gokudera had not suffered the same fate, appearing debonair than slovenly even when sprawled across an unyielding, plastic seat.

Fortunately, Reborn was not with them but then neither were the other team leaders. The waiting room was devoid of everyone else except for the genins as though the entire wing had been cordoned off for their use and their use only. In the age of the first Kages when sabotage was rampant, the extra precaution might have made sense. But these days, in times of peace, when the Hokage himself had reached a ripe old age where his hair was falling out instead of merely graying, it seemed like overkill.

_So young_—one of the medic-nins murmured pityingly before being silenced by a hiss, a quick jerk of her head indicating to the wall. A couple of kids turned their heads in confusion at the darkened corner. Others blanched at the sight. Tsuna figured that to a normal person, it was kind of scary. An ANBU standing against a wall, not a care in the world as he or she observed them through blank holes in a bird mask.

But he was used to it, had seen his father come through the door a million times covered in blood and worse. He didn't know why the ANBU was there. Gokudera could have explained it better, his mother might have been an outsider but he was still the scion of the De Luca family.

In all honesty, it wasn't really that important to him. The only thing that mattered at that moment was that he passed this test in a series of tests that he had been given so far, the ones he'd passed, not so much with flying colors, but enough to make his heart glow like a heated brick, give him the satisfaction of knowing that his teammates were counting on him to succeed and he hadn't let them down, not yet.

And it was such a small thing to sit there quietly under the harsh scrutiny of medic-nin like a bug caught under the glass, looking healthy, being healthy, and Tsuna wasn't anything but healthy. He could do this. It was so easy compared to hitting a bull's eye on a target or maintaining the chakara control to climb trees. He could do this and he breathed out, catching sight of Gokudera's reassuring scowl through the corner of his eyes.

As they waited, ten minutes, twenty, then forty, their attendees seemed to forget that they could still hear them. Their conversation rose and ebbed depending on memory and the sheer force of the ANBU's presence. Gokudera's mood, already foul, worsened when one of them visibly waved a hand in front of his nose and clucked loudly at the breath of smoke that perfumed his silver hair.

"You're going to be dead by the time you hit twenty _boy_."

The medic-nins measured out carefully formulated soldier-pills according to size and weight. The ones sold over the counter, the one that Tsuna ingested during the exams, had been a simple booster. These were the real things. They were warned not to take more than two every four hours as their pockets were inspected for loose seams, lined with emergency bandaging and of all things, glue in case of a quick field aid.

Then were soon taken in alphabetic order as though they were spare parts, oiled and inspected for defects before being fitted into a machine they were just beginning to understand. Irie Shoichi was first, followed by Kaneda Osamu, Kamiyama, then Hana, Sasagawa Ryohei and a pimply teenager named Saburo. But even as Gokudera stepped into the examination room with a cutting nod, Tsuna remained seated, passed over like he had been so many times at the Academy when no one had wanted to sit next to the resident loser and their teacher, exasperated, was resigned to sticking him with whoever was left over.

He shivered, noticing the ANBU now more than ever. Maybe he or she was asleep? As though noticing his nervous glances, the ANBU jerked up abruptly, almost sheepish, as though ashamed at being caught in the open. A moment later, the ANBU was gone.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

He nearly tripped over his own feet as he got up, eager to be done with. No one had come back from the examination room. It was almost like the horror novels Hana enjoyed, right before the unsuspecting main character was struck over the head and knocked out. The medic-nin stepped away as he stood up, briskly walking down the hallway, past the door he had seen others go through and ushered him into a private room where the blinds were pulled shut, the only source of light filtering through the pretty flower pattern near the edges.

Surprised, he blinked at the appearance of a pink-garbed nurse as she twisted the measuring tape around her fingers, asking him to please take off his clothes. He tried to smile as he took his shirt off but if anything, it seemed to unnerve her even more. Perhaps she was new?

Belatedly, it occurred to him that she was the only civilian she had seen so far. His examination seemed to take forever, far longer than the intermediate pauses between names. It also featured a doctor he had never seen before in his life.

When he was young, he had been a frequent visitor to the hospital. A caretaker was dispatched at the end of every month to get him checked out. She said it was to make sure that Sawada Nana was a fit parent and an adequate provider. In his eagerness to stay with the only parent he had ever known, he had gotten used to the antiseptic smell of the hospital and its bleached walls. And he had gotten well acquainted with most staff on rotation.

Most doctors who worked with ninja were ninja themselves, career-genin usually, with a few permanently crippled jounin or chunin thrown in the mix. But his doctor was something else. There was a pet lizard tucked between his elbows as he sauntered in, grinning with sharp teeth. Whether by design or trick of lighting, his eyes were hidden from him, appearing almost reptilian as he turned his way.

"Well, well, Sawada Tsunayoshi is it?"

With that greeting, the strange doctor waved away his nurse, the medic-nin, the ANBU that had followed them all in while he wasn't paying attention and pressed a dry palm down on his thyroid gland, in his arm pits, down his ribs and against the small of his back.

Tsuna fought the urge to strike back or to flee. The doctor's hands were like blocks of ice, his skin crawling where they touched. It was uncomfortable, unnerving, but in a clinically detached manner that belied keen interest. Not unlike those he had been taught to avoid at school. Tsuna wasn't used to having people interested in him.

A quick handseal later, the doctor's fingers were wreathed in green chakara that made his hair stand on end. He felt the foreign energy sweep past the nerve clusters, creeping along the coil like a fat, well-fed tomcat stalking a mouse. Something deep within him, intrinsic, instinctive, quaked violently at the intrusion and before he knew it, the lizard-eyed man was stepping back with a frown, his glasses askew, his palms a uniform red as though they burned.

He looked a little annoyed but intrigued at the interruption. Had Tsuna looked down right there and then, he would have seen a thick spiral unraveling from his belly button. But it was gone in the next instant and the only witnesses, the doctor and a handful of his assistants.

"All done." The young nurse announced timidly in her haste to get away. Tsuna blushed, wondering what he had done this time.

As he bent over to grab his shirt, to get out as quick as his feet could carry him, sweat broke on top of his forehead at the wrongness of the situation. A hand landed on his shoulder. He feared that it was the lizard-eyed doctor but in fact, it was Shamal who seemed just as surprised as he was to see him.

"Tsuna" He said in his usual lazy drawl after a brief hesitation.

"Dr. Shamal!" He squeaked.

"All alone today?" Shamal feigned disappointment. "Where is the delightful young lady who's usually with you?"

"Dr. Shamal." The other doctor said disapprovingly, a sneer curling his lips. "We should really use this opportunity to..."

"I don't treat men at my hospital." Shamal replied automatically.

The other man rolled his eyes.

"As you already know, Tsunayoshi-kun is rather... special. We really should double check to see that his constitution remains stable."

"He seems fine to me."

"That's because we make sure he is." The man said patiently as though proving a point.

Shamal scratched at his stubble.

"Unless he's had a sex change that I don't know about, my decision stands." He waved a hand in the general direction of the door. "Shoo," He said to Tsuna, "Run along now, you know how Reborn gets when he's kept waiting. God I don't even want to know how you're all going to grow up."

"Umm thank you...?"

Hurriedly pulling a shirt over his head, he all but sprinted out of the hospital. His team was waiting for him outside, an unexpected surprise but a good one. Upon seeing him, Gokudera flicked a butt of a cigarette into the grass where a small pile was strewn pitifully, threatening to blaze. Tsuna side-eyed it, wondering if Gokudera would be offended if he stamped them all out.

"What took you so long?" Gokudera snarled.

Tsuna ducked his head, chagrined.

"They... they had to take extra measurements I guess, I'm not really..."

"Why?" Hana asked, perking up. "Are you sick?"

He shook his head.

"I don't think so. No... it was really strange. There was this doctor and he kept touching me."

"Aw, was it a bad touch?" Hana teased but there was a note of unease quivering in her voice. Both his teammates looked slightly apprehensive.

"He did this weird handseal..." Tsuna tried to explain but found that his fingers couldn't quite make the variation on the 'serpent' seal like the man with the lizard tucked in his arms. Though it was clear that he would never have a career in working with children older than three (and even then it was doubtful), he recalled that the handseal wasn't anything he had ever been taught before. More medical, he guessed, not the usual combination of combat and subterfuge.

Gokudera grabbed his wrist.

"He used the serpent to end the jutsu?" The silver-haired genin asked oddly but he had a feeling that the question wasn't directed at him.

Tsuna swallowed and nodded.

Hana raised an eyebrow. "Want to share with the rest of the class?"

"Shut up." Gokudera snapped, distracted. "I'm concentrating." He copied the handseals by memory, frown growing deeper and deeper as the jutsu ended with the modified serpent. "And you're sure, this is what he used." He demanded.

Tsuna nodded again.

At the confirmation, Gokudera said flatly. "It's got to be a fuuinjutsu, a sealing technique. But I don't get..."

Reborn chose that moment to appear, stomping Gokudera's face flat against the ground.

"I wasn't joking," Their sensei said, crossing his arms. "About your wills."

.

It was dinner time when he got home. He wasn't expecting anything, _hadn't_ for a long time.

But it would have been nice, he thought wistfully as he stared at the Sasagawa household next door. He could hear Ryohei's boisterous laughter seeping through the doors and the windows. He could almost pretend that he could hear Kyoko as well, her voice chiming clear like bells.

He used to be jealous, when he was younger. Other kids would come to school with bentos packed full of their favorite things. All Tsuna had were a few rice balls, a box of orange juice he was lucky and half-melted candy bars he shoved inside his back pocket. That was before he knew how sick his mother was. He didn't blame her, but he definitely blamed his father. He was glad that Sawada Iemitsu wasn't home. It would have just been awkward.

Feeling defeated after the physical examination and the two-hour interrogation afterwards the courtesy of their sensei, he trudged inside. His stomach growled painfully and he thought that he could skip microwaving the rice this time just to make the noise stop.

His mother, as always, was sitting at the table, frowning into the dark. It was a bad day today. She usually moved around, never with a purpose, but she normally retired to her rooms at sunset, creeping out when the noise of cookery in the kitchen had ceased.

"Mom?" He asked and received no answer.

He grabbed her hands, flinching when he felt how cold they were and tried to imbue heat back into the elegant white fingers. "You shouldn't be sitting here, let's go up to your room please?"

Another time, she might have sighed and acquiesced. Today, she sat silent, unmoving as stone, her eyes unfocused, tracking where Tsuna had been rather than where he was. For a moment, he sat still as well, staring at the doorway as though another Tsuna might come in, this one better, smarter, successful, more popular.

He said quietly, "I'll make dinner okay?"

.

Dinner was a stilted, awkward affair. Never had there been a more awkward dinner in the history of dinners, not even when his team was surviving on apple cores at the end of their first week.

He didn't remember the last time they ate together. Usually, Tsuna would wake up too late in the mornings and sprint out the door. He figured that his mom got up sometime after, made tea for herself and waited like she always did for his father—but never for him. His spoon clanged noisily against his bowl.

Stabbing the chopsticks into the rice, Tsuna heard himself say, "Mom, I'm going on a trip. Me and my team, actually everyone, we're going to Kumo. We... we're going to have fun." He swallowed, remembering Reborn's ominous words. "I... I... might not see you for a while okay? So don't... don't worry and..." He ducked his head, shoveling the eggs into his mouth and knowing that there would be no reply. But something curious happened then. His mother let out a small sound.

Startled, Tsuna looked up.

She was crying. His mother was crying. It was the first time in his waking memory that she had done something spontaneous, something other than to sit listlessly and walk to where she was guided. For a moment, he froze, incredulous and in shock. He trembled, suddenly frightened, terrified, and guilty in a mess of emotions that he had caused such a thing. He knocked his bowl to the ground.

"Maman, I'm sorry." He begged desperately, pressing his forehead against a bony knee. "I didn't mean to upset you, please don't cry."

But Sawada Nana swayed in her seat, shaking her head. She opened her mouth then pressed her lips closed as though to seal every sound in her lungs. Tears continued to dot her clenched fists and sear his scalp. At times, her thighs flexed and bunched, her throat bobbing as though she had something to say. Tsuna kept apologizing and in time he felt another presence at his back. He reached for the kunai he kept in his leg holster.

"_Tsuna_."

It was his father.

.

Tsuna goggled at the procession.

"Everyone's going? Even the Hokage?"

"Looks like it." Gokudera grunted, rubbing his bruised eyes. The silver-haired genin had the appearance of someone who had gotten too little sleep the night before. In fact, all around him were people who stood yawning, blinking blearily into the sun as though they could somehow put it out with the collective force of their minds.

Tsuna knew that he didn't look much better and was glad that no one ever paid much attention to him. "This is supposed to be a peace mission, a way to renew old relationships." Gokudera continued, sounding like he was reading the words off a pamphlet. "Since the Second Shinobi War, all Kages are interrelated. The Sandaime's supposed to be the Raikage's nephew or something. The Kazekage's always been our allies and we go way back with the Tachikage. Problem is, the Sandaime's kids are all dead. They're looking at other candidates who satisfy the conditions of primogeniture but they choose wrong and the next Hokage might singlehandedly break the entire alliance."

"What if the candidate doesn't want to be a Hokage?" Tsuna asked timidly.

Gokudera thought for a moment then summarized, "Then they're fucked I guess."

Hana caught up with them before the other genin could elaborate further.

"Hey guys wait for me!"

"What took you so long?" Gokudera sniped, green eyes sparking with irritation. "Even dame-Tsuna got here before you."

Hana flicked her hair back and ignored him.

"Where's sensei?"

Their teammate threw his arms up in exasperation.

"How should I know? More importantly, what's that pervert doing here?!"

Gokudera pointed a finger at Dr. Shamal, walking alongside a woman looked eerily familiar.

Tsuna's jaws dropped. "Haaah?! That's sensei!"

Hana whirled around, squinting.

"Can't be! Reborn-sensei has dark hair and dark eyes like..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Gokudera interrupted, "We get it, you're in love with him, you want to have his kids."

"I do not!" Hana snarled, threatening to brain her teammate with her first-aid kit.

Forgotten in the background, Tsuna cringed "But..."

"Kids these days," Reborn hummed in a modest voice from behind him. "So rash and undiscipled."

"And who do we have to thank for that?" Shamal retorted, shielding his eyes from the sun. "Do your kids have to be so loud? I thought you weren't feeding them or something equally barbaric."

Reborn raised an eyebrow from beneath his conspicuous, cotton candy-pink wig. "And here I thought you'd wax poetry about the better treatment of women." He said, nodding towards Hana who had just punted Gokudera into a tree. Shamal shuddered.

"Kurokawa Hana isn't a girl."

"Best not let her hear you say that then." Reborn stared down at Tsuna with a thoughtful look, almost as though he had genuinely failed to notice him. "What do you want dame-Tsuna... I mean..." He cleared his throat and continued in an unconvincing falsetto. "Shouldn't you be with your teammates little boy?"

Shamal sniggered.

"Ha_a_... Reborn..." Tsuna anxious-shouted in a low voice. "What are you doing?"

His sensei looked less than impressed at the line of questioning.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Clearly, we have never met before."

Tsuna nearly tore his hair out.

Shamal leered. "Looks like you've been found out Reborn."

"I told you not to call me that when I'm in disguise." Reborn growled, all but stomping his feet. The other man raised his hands defensively.

"Alright, alright Michiko-chan," He said soothingly. "But you might want to do something about your brats. They're blocking the road."

"Shit" Reborn swore, flinging a thick file of papers at Shamal. Still wearing the garish wig, he teleported between his students, flinging them both into the treetops where their surprised shrieks and wails faded into the rustle of leaves and breaking branches.

In the brief chaos, Shamal's papers took flight. Tsuna managed to get a hold of one of them. It was the cover for Icha Icha Paradise vol. 21.

He froze.

Shamal tried to say something and failed. Instead, he gently pried it from his stiff fingers and patted him on the head.

.

Yugakure was a defunct hidden village, its population of ninja dispersed across the neighboring Fire and Frost Countries after the end of the Third Shinobi War. Although they had reasons to be nervous, playing host to a contingent of destructive teenagers, they bustled about, willing to make the best of this opportunity. Already, inside clouds of sulfur-laden steam, vendors were setting up shop of souvenirs and specialties of the Land of Hot Water, welcoming the village of Leaf.

The former ninja stronghold looked nothing like the leafy sprawl of Konoha. Everywhere he looked were pools of hot water, frothing and hissing like a pot about to boil over. Already, he could see the dulled mirror surfaces of forehead protectors on several heads, denoting the symbol for snow. Others would be arriving soon enough, genin teams from Sand, Rock, Rain and Grass.

"I thought we were going straight to Kumo!" Gokudera protested loudly, sporting a black eye.

After separating his team, Reborn had all but dumped them in the doctor's tender care lest he gave into the urge to beat them black and blue from sheer embarrassment. He was currently off harassing Team 4, Skull and his group of genin.

Shamal gave his manuscript a hopeful look. Knowing what the papers contained, Tsuna flushed red.

"Konoha wasn't built in a day." Shamal said finally, hoping to impart some obscure wisdom to his adoptees. "This way, we don't have to take stragglers all the way to Kumo. Yugakure has generously allowed us access to their facilities for the first leg of the chuunin exam."

"And that is..." Hana prodded.

"Hell if I know." Shamal said vaguely. "I never took them."

Tsuna stared, wide-eyed. "Then how...?"

But he was interrupted when the gates of Yugakure opened.

"Ah, that must be the welcoming committee."

The ninja of the Lightning Country were pale and slim with dark hair and glittering eyes. They wore grey tops and a white flak jacket they wore like a sash over one shoulder, laying the other bare. At the head of the group, bowing before the Hokage was a young man with striking blue eyes, maybe a handful of years younger than Reborn.

When he looked up, Tsuna felt as though he'd been stabbed.

Shamal noticed reaction and immediately drew him back.

"Unbelievable" The man cursed, words warping around an unlit cigarette.

Reborn was back, his touch sun-warm and reassuring unlike the burst of heat simmering from the hot springs.

"Oi, Reborn, you..."

"Yes"

Gokudera and Hana simply looked confused. But Tsuna understood on some level that something extraordinary must have occurred.

"Who is he?" he murmured, mostly to himself.

He never expected an answer, right next to his ear.

"He's way out of your league."

Gokudera reacted instinctively, that is to say explosively at the unknown sixth presence in their group, his kekkei genkai activating to envelope his hand in a white glare.

"Explosion release: exploding palm!"

"Shit!"

Hana shrieked as she was thrown forward in the aftershock, heat and dust rolling over them all like giant thunderheads as Gokudera swung his fists about, trying to locate their enemy. With a clap, Shamal cleared the air, revealing a young man in a wave-patterned happi and a grey uniform beneath. Swiftly, Reborn slid a kunai beneath the stranger's throat which bit inch deep into the wooden blocks of his geta.

"Who are you?" Reborn demanded as the stranger jumped back to the safety of a tree, having had enough.

The stranger peered down at them from the feathery pines, knees drawn in front of his chest as he rested his head on his bandaged knuckles.

"Yamamoto Takeshi" He shared gladly, teeth flashing white. "Pleased to meet you."


End file.
